I'm a recent and unwilling subject of a breakin, which included a smartphone.  I didn't realise until now that Telecom and Vodafone have an arrangement where if a customer calls in and says "please block my phone from your networks, with IMEI # x", that the phone is now useless to anybody that wants to use that phone. Excellent.  That blocks things on Telecom and Vodafone.

As many of you no doubt know, 2 degrees does not honour this system. Reps I spoke to at Vodafone and Telecom were quick to point this out.  "Sort of makes the whole system pointless," joked a store rep.   "If you see a phone on trademe that says 2 degrees only - that's a stolen phone"

Best case, block the phones from your network.  If you're too cheap or busy to do that, why don't you at least inform the customers that they are using a stolen phone? I can get a URL for you if you're too busy to find that.

So, 2 degrees, I'm really disappointed in you. I hope you at least manage to slip in some extra fees on the thief's bill on my behalf.

fin

[Moderator edit (MF): changed the subject to reflect actual discussion]